The 2014 Glenfiddich Artists in Residence prize winner was announced last month. This year, the winners were Rohnda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, a collaborative duo  from Canada.

The Glenfiddich award is well-known it the art community. It provides the winner with a three-month residency in Duffton, Scotland, where they live and work at the William Grant & Sons distillery. This distillery is where Glenfiddich single malt is created. The artist is expected to find inspiration from the pastoral setting, other international artists and by sharing cross-disciplinary ideas. The prize of $20,000 is awarded to each artist or pairing to cover the cost of travel, living expenses and working materials while in Scotland.

The program has sponsored 90 artists since it started in 2002, and this year the first collaborative pair from Canada won.

Weppler, originally from Winnipeg, and Mahovsky, from Calgary, met in 1996 at the University of British Columbia where they both studied. They have been working together since 2004 and have had many art exhibits around the world.

With nearly 200 submissions this year, Weppler and Mahovsky won for their collaborative work on their sculptures that infuses handmade artistries and spontaneous materials. The two use their artistic ability to transform everyday objects into cultural objects.

Weppler and Mahovsky explain their art as “sculptural still life” that stresses procedures and the materials used. Their sculptures have been described as “wickedly inventive, event-studded, inexhaustibly suggestive and surprisingly profound.” The pair uses copper and wood in their work.

“It was the use of materials, depth of imagination and innovative practice that made Weppler and Mahovsky the standout applicants,” said Andy Fairgrieve, curator of the program’s prize.